


A Certain Appeal

by sassnastark



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1970s, F/F, F/M, The Marauders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 20:04:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4032841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassnastark/pseuds/sassnastark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 1976.<br/>And things are changing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Certain Appeal

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to once again take on the Marauders and this time I'm gonna do it right.  
> Comments are life and love.  
> Kudos are hugs.

The summer of 1976 had been surprisingly good.  
She thought it would've been entirely empty but instead of the usual return to the Evans house, Lily spent it with Marlene at the beach.  
Mrs Evans had decided that Lily needed a nice break from Petunia and her name calling so had agreed to Lily staying there.  
Cornwall was stunning and it helped clear her mind of everything.  
She only thought of the horrifying event for a single minute, every night before she'd go to sleep.

She'd crawl into the makeshift bed (that Mr Mckinnon had kindly set up), close her eyes and she'd be back there.  
His scared eyes and they way they had suddenly turned cruel.  
"Mudblood."  
And she'd fall asleep.

Lily was now standing at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, (Marlene at her side) suddenly wondering where her summer had gone.  
It felt like only yesterday that she'd pushed Marlene into that giant wave, watched over Marlene's sister at the park whilst Marlene went to flirt with the cute older boy that had been frequently been stopping by with his dog, and had sat eating ice-creams and discussing OWL results.  
Now she was back here.  
The big red train, staring her in the face.

It was mocking her.  
"Look at me. I'm a symbol for the problems that you're most definitely gonna have to face once you board me" it was saying.  
Lily was tempted to turn and run but Marlene quickly squeezed her hand and brought her back to reality.  
She didn't have to face anything, if she didn't want to.  
Anything included (but was not limited to) Severus Snape and James Potter.

"Come on Tiger, grab your cat. It's time to board the train of misery" Marlene smiled sympathetically.  
"I'm bringing you down, aren't I?" Lily asked, already knowing the answer.  
"I didn't wanna say anything, but you're being kinda depressing" said Marlene.  
"You know what? I'm not gonna let this get to me. It's a new year. I can do anything I want" Lily said, brushing a hand through her unruly red hair.  
"Bring it on Hogwarts. The dream team are back" Marlene laughed, and the two boarded the train.

The usually quite early Lily was one of the very last to board, so the platform was not quite as busy as she was used to.  
The train however was completely packed.  
First years, looking bewildered at everything were probably the most annoying of the bunch but Lily had to admire their wonder.  
That was her five years ago.  
Lily perked up a bit and smiled down at one of them.

Once the two had finally reached their usual compartment, she popped her luggage and cat carrier down, and breathed a sigh of relief.  
"I was wondering how long it would take for the two of you to arrive" Sophia Prewett said, popping up from behind a pile of coats, almost giving Marlene a heart attack.  
Sophia Prewett shared Lily's hair colour but that was where the similarities ended.  
Sophia was a small girl of about 5''0 with olivey skin and very slight, elfish features.  
Her hair was slick and straight, a fringe framing her face.  
Lily however was a honking 5''11 with pale, freckley skin and extremely prominent features.  
Her hair was a wild mess of curls if she didn't iron it with magic and it reached about her shoulders.  
Sophia was often confused for Lily and the two really had no idea why.

"Oh my merlin, Soph!" Marlene shrieked, jumping out of her skin before moving to the other side of the compartment to whack her on the shoulder.  
Sophia is howling with laughter as the compartment door opens to reveal Remus Lupin.

"Hey Remus!" Lily grinned, jumping up out of her seat to embrace Remus in a hug.  
"Hello Lils, how was Cornwall?" he asked, squeezing her tightly.  
"It was awesome Lupin, she was with me. Anywhere with me is amazing" Marlene said dryly, giving Remus a smirk.  
"I don't doubt that at all Marlene" he smiled politely, letting go of Lily.  
"Can I steal Lily for a moment?" he added, straightening his tie.  
"Why?" Sophia asked, curiosity showing.  
"Just need somebody to accompany me to the trolly from heaven that's all" he said.  
Marlene with a thoughtful look plastered on her face, nodded and with that Lily is pulled out of a compartment and out into the open.

"I think I might get a chocolate frog" Lily whispered to herself before Remus Lupin stopped walking.  
"The Marauders are in a funk" Remus said, a serious look on his face.  
Lily faltered, wondering why she of all people are being brought into this conversation.  
Remus is her friend though, so she listens.  
"James is quiet" Remus continued and Lily gasped slightly, before covering her mouth with her hand.  
Never in the 5 years that she's known James Potter has he ever been quiet.  
"I know. He's been in this, contemplating, self searchy, what's the meaning of life mood, ever since Petey and I met him at the train station" Remus said, looking genuinely worried.

Lily was about to voice her opinion but is interrupted as Remus continues.  
"Sirius is in the same mood. Pete and I are baffled. We don't know how to fix it but we suggested maybe pulling a prank on some first years-"  
Lily shot him a disapproving look.  
"Don't judge, desperate times call for desperate measures" Remus said.  
"They turned it down" he added.

"Remus can we discuss this whilst getting chocolate frogs because I haven't eaten since yesterday" she complained, trying to distract herself from their current topic.  
"Okay, yeah sure" Remus said, looking flustered.  
She pats his shoulder, trying to comfort her fellow prefect as they make their way down a relatively quiet corridor.

Dorcas Meadows, a very beautiful Ravenclaw in their year, with dark eyes and skin, pops out from a compartment.  
"Hey Lily, have you seen Marlene?" she asked, smiling.  
"Down that corridor, third door to the left" Lily answered, making room for her to pass.  
Remus and Lily carried on walking.

"Have you heard the new David Bowie album? Station to Station?" Lily asked.  
"Lily can we get back to the matter at hand?" Remus shouted before covering his mouth with his hand, looking extremely sheepish.  
"Sorry" he added quickly.  
"Listen Remus, I get that this is troubling for you. Sirius wrote to me over the summer" she said, looking towards the floor.  
"I know he said he was fine, but being kicked out of your house can make you feel bloody awful. Maybe he's just feeling the full force of it now" Lily added.

Sirius and her had struck up a rather odd friendship about fourth year.  
It consisted of games of chess, complaining about families and listening to muggle music whilst lying next to each other.  
Whilst they had the differences of opinion on James Potter, they pretty much understood everything else.

Remus nodded.  
"That's probably it... but what about James?" he asked.  
"Oh you know how Potter is. He's the most dramatic person on the planet. He's probably just being sympathetic for Sirius and taking it to a whole new level" Lily shrugged.  
She didn't really want to be on the topic of Potter.  
She had mixed feelings on Potter.

After the incident, he apologized almost as much as Severus did.  
He really shouldn't have, it's not like he said the awful word.  
Lily had gone to bed with a chocolate frog on her pillow every night for four days, with a note saying...

SORRY.  
POTTER X

She was curious how he managed to enter the girl's dormitories undetected and also how he managed to know that the chocolate frogs, contained all four founders of Hogwarts, thus completing her founders of Hogwarts collection that she'd been looking for for a while.  
Lily never asked though.  
A subtle nod was shared between the two of them, the occasional time that she left the dorm, to go sit by the fire in the common room.  
Lily had felt an anger beyond belief at him when the incident had happened, but she had quickly realized that the flaming red anger was just a distraction from the deep blue sadness that she'd felt, (still feels) at the loss of Sev.

"How's your summer been Remus?" she asked, trying to bring an end to the unfortunate topic.  
"Not any different from the summer that I've depicted in my letters. Spent it at Snowdonia with my Mum's family. Lots of hiking, lots of speaking welsh and getting sloppy kisses from great aunt Mildred" Remus said, shuddering at the last part.  
"All in all, quite alright" he added.  
"Good" Lily said as they approached (as Remus had called it) "The trolly of heaven".

"Would you judge me, if I ate everything on that trolly Lily?" he asked, mouth hanging open.  
"Not at all Remus. I would probably join you" she replied, mouth also hanging open.  
"How about you hit the old lady over the head, I grab the trolly and we leg it?" Remus asked, taking slow steps as if not to spook the holy trolly of goodness.  
"Sounds like a solid plan, what're we gonna do about the witnesses?" Lily nodded, taking in the scene before her.

One first year, two third year Hufflepuffs, a fifth year Gryffindor and a sixth year Slytherin... also known as Snape.  
Shit.

"Turn, turn, turn" Lily said quickly to Remus, spinning on her heels, her hand attached to Remus's wrist.  
"But chocolate Lil- Oh right yeah, let's go" Remus whispered, also turning but it was too late, Sev had already seen them.  
"Lily! Lily wait!" he called after the fleeing pair.  
Remus suddenly stopped in his tracks, confusing Lily.  
"Remus! What are you doing?" she hissed.  
"Just go find a compartment, I'll hold him off and find you later" Remus hissed back.  
Lily gave his hand a firm squeeze and fled down the corridor whilst Remus took up as much space as possible.

"What do you think you're doing Lupin? Let me pass" Snape said, more tired than angry.  
His eyes were sunken, dark circles more prominent than before.  
It was clear to Remus that Snape had most certainly been losing sleep over this ordeal but Remus wasn't going to budge.  
"Look mate. She's never going to forgive you. Save yourself and her some pain and just give up already" Remus said, quitely.  
Remus Lupin was not in the mood for a duel, so he was trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.  
Snape looked confused for a moment before shaking his head.  
"Get out of my way Lupin" Snape sighed and Remus stepped aside but it was too late.  
Lily had already disappeared.

"Watch your back Lupin" Snape muttered, walking the opposite way before finding a compartment with his Slytherin chums.  
Remus thought for a moment.  
That threat had no emphasis what so ever.  
It's like the entire school is completely drained of energy.  
Remus would understand if it was.  
The Wizarding World had certainly gotten a lot darker.

Sighing, he turned back to where the "Trolly from Heaven" was and saw nothing but an empty space.  
You'll get your chocolate frogs next time, Lupin old pal.  
Remus made his way through the empty corridor, only bumping into one second year on his way back to the compartment he had been in before he found Lily.  
The compartment of depressed drama queens.  
With the exception of him and Peter of course.  
Sliding the door open, he saw a new addition to the misfit crew that he had left behind.

"Hi Mary?" Remus asked, looking over to a frustrated Mary McDonald sitting next to a giddy looking Peter whilst playing exploding snap.  
"Remus, thank god!" Mary said, running a hand through her soot covered hair.  
"Thank god?" Remus laughed, sitting down across from her and Peter.  
"Tell Pettigrew that he's cheating" she shouted, squinting her eyes across from her opponent.  
Peter stuck his tongue out at Mary before putting down his cards.  
"You're a sore loser Mary, you just can't except that I'm the king of exploding snap" Pete said, looking extremely satisfied with himself.  
"It's true Mary, I'm afraid Petey is the king of exploding snap" Remus nodded, looking over at James staring out of the window.

"Any change in behavior since I left?" Remus whispered to Peter.  
"What does it look like? They were bringing down my good vibes so I brought Mary in as back up" Peter replied.  
"Because I'm the absolute life of the party" Mary whispered as she joined them in their circle.  
"Exactly! But then they started bringing down her good vibes as well so we ended up playing exploding snap" Peter continued.  
Remus sighed. This most definitely wasn't the answer he was looking for.  
Lily wasn't coming in here anytime soon so he'd have to take matters into his own hands.

"Alright you sorry sods, what in Godric's name is going on with you?!" Remus shouted, over to the two of them.  
James turned his attention over to the other three and Sirius jumped out of his skin.  
"We're fine" Sirius said, looking rather grumpy.  
"Oh yeah sure! Cause sleeping, moping and staring out of the window like you're in a cliched movie is the definition of fine for you too!" Peter said sarcastically, sitting up in his seat.  
"I'm just thinking about the fragility of life" James answered before staring out the window again.  
Remus wasn't having any of it.  
"Oi Potter, you will look at me when I'm talking to you!" Remus shouted, snapping his fingers in James's face.  
Remus now had James's attention.  
"You are James Potter and Sirius Black! Everything is fun with you too! It's pranks and mischief and hey look at Evans! Ain't she fit! Her hair lights up the fucking sun!" Remus shouted.  
Peter decided to join in.  
"Hey guys have you ever noticed how Lily Evan's eyes shine like emeralds! It's like she sees into your freaking soul man! She's an angel I swear it!" Peter shouted.  
Mary wanted in.  
"Hey McDonald! Has Evans said anything about me recently? No? She's not madly in love with me? Who she's dating?! I'll kill him! I swear I will! Oh and hey McDonald! We're hosting an epic prank in the Great Hall, you should totally come along!" Mary shouted.  
James put his head in his hands.  
"What has gotten you into this massive funk?!" Remus shouted.

"My Dad died" James whispered.  
Silence.  
Remus feels like a royal prick.  
Mary covers her mouth with her hand and sinks into her seat.  
She whispered something that sounds like "Oh my Merlin" but you can't really tell with her hand covering her mouth.  
This explains why James and Sirius are upset.  
James had told him that Mr Potter was the one who first found Sirius and agreed to let him move in.

"How?" Peter asked, finally breaking the silence/  
"He spliced on his way to work" Sirius said, seeing as James was too reluctant to answer.  
"Guys I am so sorry" Remus finally spoke.  
"It's okay" James said, clearing his throat. "It's not like you could've known."  
"You guys wanna play exploding snap?" Peter whispered, trying to lighten the mood.  
"I'll even let you win this time" he added and Sirius laughed.  
"Oh go on then Petey" Sirius smiled halfheartedly, edging closer to Peter.

Three minutes in, Peter had given up on being Mr Nice Rat.  
"Hey!" Sirius shouted as his queen of diamonds exploded, leaving Sirius covered in ash.  
"I thought you said you were gonna let me win?" he added.  
"I'd had enough of your gloating!" Peter retaliated and James in the corner actually laughed.  
"That's it Petey, you've awoken the beast" Sirius smirked, laying out his ace of spades.  
Peter's jack went bang and disappeared in a puff of smoke.  
"Good one Padfoot" James laughed, sitting up in his seat.  
Mary was about to lean over and inform Sirius of the rest of Peter's hand when the group heard a blood curdling scream from outside.

Remus hopped up out of his seat and darted towards the door, the rest of the Marauders & Mary not far behind.  
The corridor was packed but he could see that the noise was coming from a third year Ravenclaw, who had dropped to her knees and was pointing at big red letters, written on one of the train walls.

DEATH TO MUDBLOODS.

Remus had frozen where he stood.  
Of course there had been empty threats from blood purists before but this seemed all the more serious.  
Peter had been the one to calm the third year and get her to stop screaming but Mary now looked like she was about to start crying.  
"Hey McDonald" Sirius whispered, shaking her shoulder.  
She still appeared dazed before snapping out of it.  
"Yeah" she said, informing the group of her return to reality.  
"You okay?" Sirius asked, already knowing the answer.  
"No, not really. It all seems more real now doesn't it?" Mary whispered, looking almost as pale as Remus on a full moon.  
There was a nod shared between the group before Lily Evans rounded a corner to see what was going on.  
At this point Remus remembered that he was also a prefect.

"Alright everyone, back to you compartment or I'm gonna have to dock house points!" he shouted, folding his arms.  
Lily moved gracefully over to Remus, trying to look as unfazed by the incident as possible but her hand was very clearly shaking.  
James and Lily locked eyes for only a second before he left.

"Death to mudbloods?" Lily whispered.  
"It was probably some Slytherin prat having a laugh. I'm sure it's nothing" Remus answered, unconvincingly.  
"Is it written in blood?" she asked, the possibility of somebody on board being injured, or worse dawning on her.  
"Don't be silly Lily..." he said, but the thought had been in the back of his mind.  
At that precise moment, a certain little old lady who was usual pushing the "Trolly from Heaven" pushed open the door, looking extremely worried.  
"Did you two see who did this?" she asked, her friendly voice, now very hushed.  
They both shook their heads.  
"Back into your compartments... I'll contact Professor Dumbledore as soon as I can... if you see anything else like this, let me know" she said sternly.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts" Lily muttered darkly as they went to find somewhere to sit.  
One thing Remus could tell about this year, is that it was certainly going to be eventful.


End file.
